The present invention relates generally to engineering computer design tools, and more particularly to a process, a digital computer, and a medium readable by a digital computer for the engineering design, and optionally the making, of an article of manufacture.
Known methodologies for the engineering design of parts (i.e., articles of manufacture) have included the use of computer spreadsheets programmed with a mathematical geometric model of the article which allows the design engineer to vary one or more geometric variables, with the spreadsheet calculating the values of the other geometric variables within desired constraints. In some instances the mathematical geometric model of the article is represented as a parametric geometry model. Such models are typically developed using commercially available Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs. Examples of such programs include Unigraphics, PRO-Engineer, IDEAS, etc.
Typically, the design engineer develops an initial geometric description of the article, assigns values to the dimensions and runs a separate mathematical engineering analysis, using such initial geometry values, to determine the engineering aspects of the design. The design engineer then varies certain geometric variables and reruns the mathematical engineering analysis. This is repeated until acceptable values for the engineering aspects of the design are reached. The final geometry of the design is checked against customer requirements, such as life cycle requirements. Then, the design engineer forwards the design to manufacturing personnel who perform an analysis to determine if the article can be manufactured and then either return the design to the design engineer for modification or proceed to develop the manufacturing process and actually make the part.
What is needed is a more efficient modality for designing and making an article of manufacture.
The method of the invention for designing an article of manufacture includes steps a) through i). Step a) includes defining one or more customer requirement parameters. Step b) includes creating a parametric geometrical representation of the article of manufacture (i.e., a master model) in terms of geometric parameters using a computer aided design program. Step c) includes storing the master model on a computer medium. Step d) includes choosing one or more engineering parameters relating to the customer requirement parameters. Step e) includes creating a design analysis methodology that relates the master model to the engineering parameters and the customer requirement parameters. Step f) includes programming the design analysis methodology into a computer code such that the engineering parameters and customer requirement parameters are program inputs and the geometric parameters of the master model are program outputs. Step g) includes storing the computer code on the computer medium. Step h) includes inputting specific values of the engineering parameters and the customer requirement parameters into the computer code. Step I) includes running the computer code on a digital computer and outputting therefrom specific values of the geometric parameters of the master model.
In one implementation, the method is also for designing a manufacturing process for making the article of manufacture and includes steps j) through o). Step j) includes choosing a manufacturing process including manufacturing criteria and one or more manufacturing enablers to make the article of manufacture. Step k) includes creating a manufacturing analysis methodology that relates the manufacturing process to the engineering parameters and the geometric parameters of the master model. Step I) includes creating a parametric geometrical representation of the manufacturing enablers in terms of geometric parameters using a computer aided design program, the parametric geometrical representation of the manufacturing enablers defining a manufacturing enabler model. Step m) includes storing the manufacturing enabler model on the computer medium. Step n) includes incorporating the manufacturing analysis methodology into the computer code such that the manufacturing criteria are computer code inputs. Step o) includes inputting specific values of the manufacturing criteria into the computer code. In this implementation, step i) also includes outputting from the computer code specific values of the geometric parameters of the manufacturing enabler model.
In another implementation, the computer code is an iterative computer code, and the outputted specific values of the geometric parameters of the master model and/or the manufacturing enabler model may be manually overridden after which the computer code continues to iteratively rerun and output other specific values while keeping the manually overridden values.
In an additional implementation, the method is also for making the article of manufacture and includes the step of making the article of manufacture having the outputted specific values of the geometric parameters of the master model obtained from step i) with the outputted specific values of the geometric parameters of the manufacturing enabler model also obtained form step i).
Several benefits and advantages are derived from the invention. Using desired engineering parameters as inputs, instead of nominal geometric parameters, shortens the engineering design time. Factoring the manufacturability into the design process means that the manufacturing personnel will not have to review and/or analyze a given design for producibility. This shortens the overall time to design and make the part. Factoring in customer requirements ensures that the quality of the parts produced meets the customer expectations which reduces warranty work on the manufacture""s part and reduces potential downtime on the customer""s part. Allowing for manually overriding the outputted specific values from the compute code of the geometric parameters of the master model and/or manufacturing enabler model provides for rapid design and manufacture of different specific articles within the same type of article (or same type manufacturing process) wherein different specific articles (or different specific manufacturing processes) have different hard constraints on one or more of their geometric parameters, as can be appreciated by those skilled in the art.